I’m not sure I understand the logic of some of my colleagues who have suggested that the Eagles’ decision to trade Donovan McNabb to the Redskins is a clear indication that Andy Reid has lost a good chunk of his organizational power.

Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist

Posted:
Monday, April 5, 2010, 5:54 PM

I’m not sure I understand the logic of some of my colleagues who have suggested that the Eagles’ decision to trade Donovan McNabb to the Redskins is a clear indication that Andy Reid has lost a good chunk of his organizational power.

The Eagles traded McNabb because Reid, who drafted Kevin Kolb three years ago, felt the time was right to make the quarterback switch. McNabb will soon turn 34 and is entering the last year of his contract. The decision to wave bye-bye to him and go with Kolb is no different than most of the other out-with-the-old-in-with-the-young moves the organization has made since he arrived in Philadelphia.

No different than the decision to part with Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor and go with Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown. No different than the decision to let Hugh Douglas go and turn to Trent Cole. No different than releasing Brian Westbrook and turning to LeSean McCoy.

They traded McNabb to the division-rival Redskins because Reid felt he owed it to McNabb to send him to a good place, even if it was just down I-95 to a team they’re going to face twice a year.

The fact that McNabb was traded to Washington is a clear indication that Reid’s organizational power is as strong as ever.

Frankly, if Joe Banner and Howie Roseman had been the impetus for McNabb’s exit as many conspiracy theorists believe, an NFC East team would’ve been the last place McNabb would’ve been traded to.

They wouldn’t have been nearly as concerned about the quarterback’s feelings, wouldn’t have been nearly as reluctant to ship McNabb to a hellhole like Oakland or Buffalo, where he would be less likely to come back and haunt the team that drafted him 11 years ago.

The Eagles gave Reid a three-year contract extension last year. You don’t give people whose power you’re trying to usurp a three-year extension.

This whole assertion that club president Joe Banner is trying to take over the organization and that the team’s new GM, Howie Roseman, is helping him do it, is absolutely absurd.

Believe it or not, these guys all actually get along. Believe it or not, Roseman wouldn’t be the GM right now if Reid wasn’t on board with the idea and believed he was the best man for the job. Believe it or not, Tom Heckert’s exit wasn’t some Banner-orchestrated plot to put ``his guy’’ as the top guy in the personnel department.

Was trading McNabb to the Redskins and turning over the controls of the offense to Kolb a smart move? Only time will tell us that. But it wasn’t, I repeat, wasn’t, an indication that Reid no longer is king.

*

Been a busy day here at Eagletarian ... To read our previous posts on Michael Vick, Kevin Kolb and Albert Haynesworth involvement in the Eagles-Redskins talks, click here.